


A Day Like Any Other

by BlossomsintheMist



Category: Avengers (Comics), Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types, Marvel, Marvel 616
Genre: Friendship, Gen, Male Friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-11
Updated: 2012-11-11
Packaged: 2017-11-18 09:35:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,028
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/559519
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BlossomsintheMist/pseuds/BlossomsintheMist
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Marvel 616, Tony and Steve friendship fic meant to be compliant with the end of Bendis's run on Avengers.  Because the Avengers were so sleepy in recent issues, especially Tony, who spent at least one whole issue sleeping in a chair.</p>
            </blockquote>





	A Day Like Any Other

Tony was sleeping on the couch. The first time he noticed it, Steve had his mind on news reports and coffee, and walked right by. But the second time (there were a lot of news reports and plans to be made to deal with them, and he needed more coffee), he stopped in the doorway and watched for a second. Tony was sprawled out, his head dangling at an angle over the back of it that would probably give him a sore neck when he woke up, his tank-top riding up to reveal his stomach, one hand laxly half open by his cheek, the other hugging a sofa cushion to his side. Steve hadn’t thought anything of it the first time; he’d seen Tony asleep, shirtless, naked, you name it, more times than he could count, like he had most of his teammates. But as he looked at him, limp and relaxed and sprawled out over the Avengers’ living room sofa, it struck Steve that he hadn’t seen Tony that relaxed in a long time. During … the fighting over Registration, and it still made Steve’s throat tighten and grow dry to think of it in any detail, the only times he’d seen Tony he’d been in the suit, and though they’d reconciled after he’d come back, after what Tony had done to his own mind, he still had seen him in his armor more often than not, and even when he’d seen Tony out of it, he’d been tense, shoulders held rigid or hunched in on himself, neck stiff.

Steve frowned, more at himself for not noticing another marker of the distance that had still lingered between them until recently, or at Tony, he wasn’t sure. He’d hated seeing Tony in the suit all the time during the fighting; it had felt like all the humanity in his friend had disappeared behind that red and gold mask. Maybe it had made it easier, in the end, he thought with a twinge of nauseous guilt, remembering Tony’s eyes staring up into his as he told him—almost begged him—to end it. It wasn’t a good memory. It still felt unfair that Tony didn’t have to live with his side of it, but that was an old hurt now, and Steve swallowed past it and scratched the back of his neck. After a moment, he went back into the kitchen for another cup of coffee.

Tony was still sleeping when he re-emerged. He set it down in front of Tony and stepped around the coffee table to sit down on the couch beside him, nudging him in the side with one elbow. Tony woke up with a start, jolting upright, his eyes wide, before he blinked at Steve and seemed to recognize him, subsiding into the cushions and propping himself up on one elbow. “Oh,” he said. “It’s you. Hi, there, Steve.”

“Hi,” Steve said. “Sleeping the day away, Avenger? Really?”

Tony grinned at him, a smirking crooked smile, but one that still made the corners of his eyes crinkle up, and Steve smiled back. It was still nice to get real smiles from Tony again. “High priority mission,” he said. “If we got an alert it’d wake me up.” He yawned and rubbed one hand back through his hair until it stood up every which way. “Honestly, I didn’t realize I’d fallen asleep,” he continued. “I was going to work on some new ideas I have for the armor, map them onto this high-tech polymer I’ve been using as a test board, but—” he sat up, his eyes sharpening on the cup on the coffee table. “Is that coffee?”

“Sure is,” Steve said, burying his smile in his own cup.

“And you’re a saint,” Tony said, picking up the coffee and inhaling a swallow of it. Steve was past wondering how Tony managed not to burn his tongue; he’d started assuming Tony’s tongue was made of asbestos about five years ago.

“Just a guy who knows his teammates too well,” Steve said. “And that’s what happens when you get too little sleep, Tony. You start falling asleep in strange places, and the next thing you know Spider-Man’s drawing on your face.”

Tony snorted a laugh and took another long swallow of coffee. “Thanks for the warning,” he drawled. “You know that from personal experience?”

“No,” Steve said. “From observation. As team leader, I need to set an example and not sleep on the job.” He smirked at Tony.

“Oh, shut your mouth,” Tony said, “I’ve seen you sleep on a couch very like this one, so don’t go getting up on your high horse.”

“Only after a hard mission,” Steve pointed out. 

“Yeah, yeah, that’s what you say now,” Tony said.

“That’s my story and I’m sticking to it,” Steve agreed. “You should get more sleep, though, if you’re falling asleep in the middle of work.” He clapped one hand solemnly against Tony’s shoulder. “I promise I won’t let Peter get you.”

“Nah, I just haven’t had a good time to sleep over the past few days,” Tony said. “And … well.” He fell silent and shrugged one shoulder, taking another sip of coffee.

“And?” Steve prompted, looking at him curiously. Tony’s cheek was pink where he’d pressed it into the pillows, his eyes still heavy-lidded with sleep. He smiled with a sudden sense of affection for his friend, suddenly feeling like not much had changed since their days in the original mansion after all.

“Maybe it’s easier to sleep here than it is … other places,” Tony said after a moment. “I’ve always felt, well …” he shrugged again and looked away, out the window.

“Yeah,” Steve said, knowing what he meant. The Avengers had always been safety to him, too, safety and home. He watched Tony’s face for a moment, the twitch in his jaw as he swallowed and the flutter of his eyelashes down against his cheek, then reached out with one arm and settled it around his shoulders. Tony started, almost jumping, then to Steve’s relief, he leaned back into his arm and turned his head to grin at him. 

“Yeah,” he said, and smiled at Steve.


End file.
